Saturday, 13 July 2013

Kim's Review : The Missing Queen

The Missing Queen is Samhita Arni's second title after Sita's Ramayana. In The Missing Queen, she completely twists the situation to address the common contentious issues in the Ramayana.

The Missing Queen takes the premise of the Ramayan and has a journalist heroine who is searching for Sita, a decade after Ram renounced her. But this tale is not set in the Ayodhya of yore. Television, phone lines, secret service headed by the "washerman", all exist in this Ayodhya.

The tale is divided into 4 distinct parts, where the journalist interacts with Ram & Kaikeyi in Ayodhya, Surpanakha in Lanka, Urmila in Mithila and finally Sita herself.

While the book is an excellent work of speculative mythological fiction, it also raises multiple current issues. The rapid expansion and modernisation of cities, winners rewriting history, exploitation of the people that lose the war, the status of women in society amongst others.

I don't want to give away more of the story in terms of story line, but I do recommend the book heavily, especially if you like Mythological or Speculative fiction.